Friday, March 6, 2020
Alex Salmond profile
Just a quick note to let you know I'm quoted in a profile of Alex Salmond for the Al Jazeera website, written by Alasdair Soussi. I was asked to comment on a comparison between Mr Salmond and Nigel Farage. You can read the piece HERE.
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Salmond has as much relevance as Theresa May or David Cameron to Scottish independence now.
ReplyDeleteUnless he makes some sort of major political comeback to a position of power and policy influence, he's the past. He's irrelevant to voters as he has absolutely no influence on their lives / their country's future. His time was 2014. 16% of the electorate were not even voters back then.
It's just the way things go. Lots of unionists will be really hoping some women were subject to sexual assault because they're sick like that, but innocent or guilty, it won't make any difference to the long term decline then eventual break up of the British Empire.
If you do think such things are important, then this one has already been eclipsed by e.g. the great British political pedophile complicity / cover up scandal, and Salmond is just one bloke who may well be innocent. Here, it was the entire British establishment.
You think having A Salmond campaigning for a Yes vote, and not constrained by being FM too, wouldn't be an advantage?
DeleteNot even when compared to the performance of his deputy and alleged leader of the Yes campaign last time?
The largest pedophile cover up was by the largest Church on our planet. As for Salmond I would take no pleasure in seeing the man banged up but he must face the accusations.
DeleteThe only people I've ever met who linked their support for independence - or rather lack of it - to Alex Salmond were hardcore extremist orange loyalists, and they were just saying that rather than actually meaning it.
DeletePeople won't vote for or against indy 'cos Nicola sturgeon' either. It's just not how these things work. It's far more than any individual.
What is an extreme orange loyalist?
DeleteYou know all about extremes. Or so they tell me.
DeleteJust to touch on what you have been discussing on Twitter regarding the mortality rates of coronavirus. The WHO gave the mortality rate of 3.4% which is a correct number cases/deaths=mortality rate. What Chris Whitty (and some other virologists) have said is that probably the number is lower.
ReplyDeleteThis is based on a number of factors but mainly at the start of a viral outbreak huge numbers of cases go undetected, and only the serious ones get picked up. Remember the only reason the virus got detected in the first place was because doctors in China detected a abnormal number of patients presenting at doctors /hospitals with severe respiratory problems. That would of only been cica 20% of the people who got infected with the virus, the vast majority would of either only shown mild symptoms or no symptoms at all an will of never been tested so will never go onto the figures.
This is shown in places like South Korea were huge numbers of people are being tested and its mortality rate it much lower. Also the Princess Diamond was also a good case because everyone was tested (in an environment that was favourable for widespread transmition of the disease) and the mortality rate is lower that 3.4%.
All this data get put into a model which is used along with the virologists experience to come up with a mortality rate. This is a different figure that the 3.4% but both are 'correct' just use different ways do get figure. One is a modelled figure, the other is using raw figures.
Whether it is 3.4% or 1% is no consolation for those who die and their families.
DeleteThe heartless talk by Johnson and others discounting the people who may die as old or already ill as being irrelevant is just appalling. The UK stinks in so many ways.
Boo Hoo. The only hope for the planet is to exterminate half of humanity. Crying because a tiny percentage will expire from a pathetically weak virus is the sign of being a big girl's blouse.
DeleteAlso remember that the virus first appeared in a population which is far poorer and lacking in normal medicine and hospital facilities than advances countries where they don't slaughter bears or tigers for medicinal reasons.
DeleteThe death rate for this nonsense sniffle will end up being similar to the normal everyday influenza. Shame most politicians just join in with the panic merchants. But then, our politicians have no knowledge of basic biology so what can we expect?
Sorry but that’s a load of nonsense. Nobody has any immunity to the coronavirus, people do to the flu. Also huge numbers of the most vulnerable are vaccinated each year against the flu. This reduces the number of deaths in the highest risk groups helping reduce mortality rates, there is no vaccine for the coronavirus virus. There are also anti virals on the market that that help lessen symptoms in server cases again reducing the mortality rate, none such exist for the coronavirus virus.
DeleteHopefully the mortality rate ends up as low as possible, but even at its low end its going to be higher than seasonal flu.
Anon at 9:59am: Chris Whitty explained that point yesterday, so I knew there wasn't necessarily a direct contradiction. However, there were a couple of other things that puzzled me. He seemed to be assuming a very large number of totally asymptomatic cases. If I recall correctly, the WHO said recently that the number of asymptomatic cases is very small, and that if people are found to be asymptomatic they usually develop symptoms within a couple of days. So that appears to be a contradiction.
DeleteAlso he was asked about the proportion of the population of Hubei that had been infected, and he said something like "if we look at the Chinese figures, it's 20%". I can't make head nor tail of that. The population of Hubei is 60 million, and globally there have only been 100,000 reported cases - ie. the equivalent of 0.2% of people in Hubei. OK, he might be assuming a huge number of unreported cases, and that might well be correct, but why say "according to the Chinese figures"? Maybe he was getting the modelling mixed up with the official numbers?
I think what the WHO have been referring to is people who have been tested for the virus the test has come back positive but at the time of the test they have not shown any symptoms, then as you say they go onto develop symptoms. This would be a low number because generally, countries are not at the stage of testing people who are not showing symptoms.
DeleteWhat Chris Whitty is referring to is people who show no symptoms (or more likely the symptoms are so limited they do not relate it to the virus (they just think they have a bad cold or are feeling ‘run down’) These people never get tested as they don’t present themselves to a doctor/hospital as they don’t feel ill. What percentage of people infected these people make up is of course the big question. There have been a couple of papers written of cases in China, and one from Germany (although I think that may have been now put down to flawed data). Again these cases have only been discovered because family members have come down with the virus and they have therefore been tested.
The Chinese CDC report had the asymptomatic rate at 1.2%, but again this is only on reported cases, not general widespread testing. The closest we have really had to widespread screening is aboard the Diamond Princess which had a asymptomatic case rate of over 50%, but of course this is based on a small number of tests and the people aboard the ship would not have been a reflection on the type of people that would be in a general population. But high levels of asymptomatic cases are not unusual in viruses, studies for the seasonal flu have shown asymptomatic rates between 50 and 77%. This did not dramatically change with the 2009 pandemic either.
Is the coronavirus rate that going to be that high? More likely not, for various reasons but 20/25% is not beyond the realms of possibility. But even if its 10-15% that a lot of people moving around not knowing they have the virus and spreading it two (on average) two other people based on the current R0 value.
As for your other point, yes I think he may of got some data mixed up somewhere as does not seem to make sense.
There isn't one case fatality rate for coronavirus. There are two. There's the rate when hospitals can cope, which we're seeing just now (roughly 1 to 2% CFR), and there's the rate when they can't cope, which the world is about to see almost everywhere and which Wuhan suffered last month, and was ~5%.
DeleteUnfortunately the people on this blog and the people we love are far more likely to experience the latter, when hospitals may be so short of ICU beds and oxygen for those with pneumonia, it will make Wuhan look like a paradise. The CFR by the summer is likely to go well beyond 5% because other countries will refuse to be as strict about quarantining tens or hundreds of millions compared to China.
To start getting a sense of what's coming, prepare for the fact that a number of your favourite politicians, sports stars, film stars, pop stars, business leaders and religious leaders won't make it to 2021.
To an extent yes, but that is very simplistic interpretation of the data available. A good comparison is South Korea. Both have (roughly) the same population. Both have ‘1st world’ health systems. Both have a high number of cases. South Korea 6767 Italy 4636.
DeleteHowever, the CFR in South Korea is 0.65% in Italy it is 4.2%. Why the difference between the two figures in two countries that share so many common traits.
One of the main reasons is the amount of people tested. A little out of date but the latest figures I can find is that Korea had undertook 109591 test (2138 tests per million) Italy 23345 (386 tests per million). As I said yesterday once widespread testing starts, taking place the fatality rate drops as people with no or only mild symptoms are picked up.
However, this alone does not explain the difference. From the data, that Italy released the average age of the fatalities was 81 with the majority of the fatalities having underlying health conditions. From that it could be extrapolated that some of the reason that there is the variation in the fatality rates is that Korea have had less cases of infection in the at risk groups than Italy has (either by luck or by planning).
It is increasingly looking like the virus has very distinct fatality rates. If you are young and healthy, the chance of dying from the virus is low. However for those with certain conditions or the elderly the risk is much higher.
Therefore, you are right at the peak of an outbreak the pressure on the NHS is going to be higher than at the other ends of the cycle. That is why all the planning is around delaying the peak for as long as possible and smoothing the peak as much as possible.
But the CFR is less about when hospitals can and can’t cope more about what percentage of certain demographics get the virus. You can have a low number of cases but a high CFR because a high percentage of the at risk demographics catch the virus, but equally you can have a large number of cases but a low CFR because a larger number of the cases are in low risk groups.
I'd like to know why nobody in Russia or America has caught thus so called virus. There's some dodgy business going on between Putin and Trump and their secret agents.
DeleteOne would be happy to have cultivated the Hellenistic ideal and in so doing to have assisted the polis and served as an example to the ages. And should the propinquity of mortality impinge ever more greatly then it would be my request to be set down among the sculptures and poetic epigraphs of Little Sparta.
Delete"Relinquunt Omnia Servare Rem Publicam."
"But the CFR is less about when hospitals can and can’t cope more about what percentage of certain demographics get the virus."
DeleteYou seem mainly focused on the present situation. Which demographics catch the virus may have relevance now, when hardly anyone has it. This will produce demographic flukes which warp the CFR in different places.
This will have less have relevance soon when all demographics have it and you're in a Wuhan scenario or worse.
It is absolutely the case that statistically if people reading this catch the virus it is far more likely to be when the hospitals can't cope and CFR is three times or more higher. That's the CFR that will have most relevance for the vast majority of people who catch this (which is not to say that over 5% of those *infected* will die).
In a loaded scenario were certain demographics are much more likely to require hospitalization then demographics are always going to play a part. At anyone time you want the number of infected in the high risk demographics to be lower than those in low risk groups.
DeleteThe CFR can fall even when the number of deaths is increasing and the CFR is not necessarily highest at the peak of an infection. In Wuhan the CFR between 1st and 10th Jan was 15.6% (according to Chineese CDC data) between the 1st and 10th Feb it had fallen to 0.8%) As I have said the CFR is very much dependent on the number of people tested. Hence it tends to fall as more people are tested. Although CFR make all the headlines actually it is a poor indicator of the chance of a person dying during the peak of an outbreak.
A more accurate measure would be the risk factor. But again this is were demographics comes in. If you are in a low risk group then the chances of you needing hospital treatment is low, so the lack of or availability of hospital facilities has very little impact on if you survive or not. The reverse is the case for people in high risk groups.
Another odd attempt to play down the impact on the overall deathrate of whether hospitals can cope or not.
DeletePicture the scene in a few months when tens or hundreds of thousands of people with pneumonia are competing for the UK's 4100 critical care beds. At the point all those beds become full you'll see the most significant jump in both deathrate. And again, that's the deathrate that will have most relevance for most people who get infected. Whether the CFR sees an equivalent jump depends on whether or not they're still testing people at that point.
Even among the least at risk demographics the numbers infected will be so high that so will the numbers with pneumonia, and so even if the old and sick are more at risk, the lack of ICU beds will be relevant for all demographics. It's not good news at all, but it's a very straightforward fact about what's to come.
I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you won't deny that when the ICU beds fill up the deathrate will rise. So let's end the discussion with agreement on that point, which is the one that really matters for most people who'll catch the virus.
That Mudge is s Danny.
DeleteA pretty poor profile by Al Jazeera.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, more an opinion piece, and not a very well written one at that.
DeleteYeahbut to the casual reader I think it gives a headline- fair description and summary?
DeleteFor me, If AS is available to publicly campaign and support, I’d grab him with both hands and give him a big hug.
Panic buying a problem in places.
ReplyDeleteLuckily, since we source so much locally from Europe, notably in terms of food, stocks can be replenished quickly.
Are you even real?
DeleteIt's the polarization of politics now like fans of pop groups where one side's great and people who like another pop group invent nonsense to discredit them
ReplyDeleteThe problem with it all is the truth becomes obscured which is always the tool of subversion, to confuse, conflate and destroy rational thinking then the people with the loudest voice win
The 'profile' of Alex Salmond on Al Jazeera is dreadful. It's not even interesting, it's also very short, so tells us nothing really. It's one man's opinion that is all, it's pap.
ReplyDeleteTo even compare A.Salmond with fraudster Farage is a huge insult! A.Salmond has more intelligence and integrity, as well as experience in politics than farage could ever have if he had 20 lives to live.
The Britnat state know that the 'trial' starting next week will damage Scotland's independence movement ( for want of a better word) even just by the fact it will be cover to cover front page 'news' on every daily lying rags stall for weeks and weeks.
It's designed to damage the whole of the independence movement and the SNP just by way of actually even silencing them, making them invisible except of course for the SNP bad fest that is about to be in everyone's face, everywhere, while the real sex pests in Westminster have been able to walk free, facing no court in the land, protected by the police at highest level and the BBC, it's absolutely sickening to the very core.
Alex Salmond is not made of the stuff of the establishment who get away with murder, they are out to get him, revenge if you like.
Let's hope it's a fair trial and that the correct process is followed, we know that the dodgy media will already have A.Salmond tried, judged and sentenced every day they report on the 'trial'.
Anybody ever read 'The Trial' by Franz Kafka? If not do so, it's excellent.
2020 has been quite a year so far, and not in a good way, for the planet, the poor, the innocent, the vulnerable, the oppressed, the real truth tellers, it's proving to be quite trying, let's hope somehow there is a miracle and that humans can take back control from the irrational, destructive capitalists running the show, and replace them with some kind of life affirming sharing mindset, because if not, we really are royally screwed.
Hetty.
What a load o ballone. Do you have evidence that Farage is a fraudster?
DeleteThere is plenty evidence from GWC posting that GWC is a Britnat turd.
DeleteNo reason at all why the Salmond trial should affect the case for independence. It may affect the SNP but in a good way.
DeleteYes Farage is a fraudster a racist and an all round corrupt arsehole.
There is plenty of evidence that the man who collected Millions of pounds in salary and pension from the Eu is a fraudster. Also a self-proclaimed racist.
DeleteNow can anybody explain how you forcibly lick someone's feet if they don't want it to happen? You can only do it if they are tied down otherwise they'd kick you in the face. Also how you attempt to rape someone by ordering them to go upstairs and lie on a bed to assault them? Especially when they have the key to the front door, back door and are hardly going to be in fear of a short fat pensioner. Case dismissed. The whole thing stinks and the CPOF need to be abolished and replaced with a judiciary that answers to Scotland and not in thrall to the engish establishment.
Of course Farage is a fraudster, he's spent his entire political career avoiding doing the thing he was originally elected, which was as a MEP
ReplyDeleteFarage's brief was fishing to which he turned up for one meeting out of 42, he had no interest in fishing and still doesn't, his job was to attempt to subvert the EU but he couldn't manage it so attempted to get himself elected in the UK and couldn't manage that either until the co operation of his fellow Nazis like Cummings and May and Johnson and the rest of them got David Cameron out of the way
Politics is full of paid servants who'll do anything and say anything for the money, they don't care about principles of your side my side nobody's side, they're generally ego maniacs who people in power seek out and pay them money or honours to do what they want
In all the years Farage was a MEP he attended a committee once
Mein Gott whit a wee diddie man you are. Farage went to the corrupt Mafia EU Parliament to get us out and he did it. All unnesesary politians need the order of the boot.
DeleteYou know all about boots. So they tell me.
DeleteFarage is allegedly setting up a new party to get rid of the House of Lords. I wish him well if he does. The Scottish Nat sis just love an over abundance of useless politicians.
ReplyDeleteThere are no SNP in the House of Lords, only Brits.
DeleteSNP have always refuse to take the ermine.
The Nat sis have taken up seats in the Commons which are subject to the Lords opinions and amendments therefore the Nat sis have a say! There is no point in taking the money and not contributing. Of course the Nat sis do like taking taxpayers money.
DeleteWhat are you on about? The ones taking money from the Lords are the Tories, Labour, UKIP and the DUP. The SNP don't.
DeleteHe never makes any sense. It's exceptionally obvious to everyone that he is a neckbearded incel with no real friends.
DeleteRead like something of a hatchet job outside of where you were quoted James
ReplyDeleteNever really liked Farage, but the guy has principles, whether we like his views on the EU or not. Getting rid of the House of Lords would be great news, equally the most undemocratic second chamber in the world along with Zimbabwe's second chamber in a so called democratic country.
ReplyDeleteBelieve Farage declined a peerage because the political class wanted to shut him up.
House of Lords should be replaced with an elected senate equal representation from the four nations.....which I know isn't going to happen!
The multiple sex charges against Salmond are enough to send him to prison for the rest of his life, and he isn't going to get a sentence halfed by pleading guilty. He will probably get off because there isn't any witnesses. He lives in Strachan, but he will probably be moving to Panama, without his wife.
ReplyDeleteStrichen.
DeleteBultutude
DeleteMuch to Gordon's relief I should imagine.
I don't know which way the trial will go because I haven't seen the evidence. It does strike me that the unionist camp have set an awful lot of store on it being a guilty verdict. Not sure why because the impending trial had no impact on the Dec election and by the time of the next election it will be ancient history politically speaking and Salmond has been retired from politics for the last 3 years. Covid 19 and the EU deal will dominate most of the coming year headlines.
He is facing charges from 10 different people. The first one would send him to prison for life. It's only second to murder. It is certainly not a matter of playing yoons vs nats. Even if he gets off, the guy's going to get battered into hospital.
DeleteCoronavirus will beat Farage to it?
ReplyDeletePlace is full of sponging old farty yoon fraudsters, arsonists and paedos..
Only in great brittania would you wear an ermine robe.
As outdated as the pish in their colostomy bags!
You just pish and shite doon yer kilt since 1746, yer erse must be scurvy by now.
DeleteYou know all about pish and kilts. So I hear.
Delete50,000 rangers fans meet in ibrox for a "rangers fans Are Not Stupid" convention.
DeleteFat sally addresses the crowd: "We are all here today to prove to the world that rangers fans are not stupid. Can I have a volunteer please?"
Gazza gingerly works his way through the crowd and steps up to the stage. McCoist asks him "What is 15 plus 15?" After 20 seconds
Gazza says "Eighteen!"
Obviously everyone is a little disappointed. Then the rangers fans start chanting "Give him another chance! Give him another chance!"
McCoist says "Well since we have a capacity crowd, world-wide press and global broadcast media here, I think we can give him another chance. So he
asks "What is 5 plus 5?" After nearly 30 seconds Gazza eventually says "Ninety?"
mccoist looks down and lets out a dejected sigh. Everyone is disheartened and Gazza starts crying. But then the 50,000 rangers fans begin to yell and
wave their hands shouting "Give him another chance! Give him another chance!"
mccoist, unsure whether he is now doing more harm than good eventually says "OK, what is 2 plus 2?" Silence hangs over the stadium.
Gazza closes his eyes, and after a whole minute eventually says "Four?"
Pandemonium breaks out throughout the stadium as the rangers crowd stand, wave their arms, stomp their feet and scream
"Give him another chance! Give him another chance!"
The House of Lords is the second largest unelected chamber of friends and ex politicians in the world, China is the biggest
ReplyDeleteThe House of Lords will never be abolished because none of the Brit parties actually want that, it's the reward of title and free money for services rendered to the English state, that's why only British nationalists are in it, it does however cost considerably more than the Chinese version
Sinn Fein Fascist Catholic IRA Mps take taxpayers money but do not sit in the Commons. Maybe the Scottish Nat si MPs could go a stage further and not take the money.
ReplyDeleteScots MPs are funded by Scots tax revenues.
DeleteThe only freeloaders in the equation are English MPs who are fattening their lazy waster selves with Scots revenues while refusing a section 30 because their nation is too pathetically weak to stand on its own two feet.
@GWC
DeleteYou still talking cac? Billy leonard was sinn fein MLA for east londonderry , was a former RUC member and orange ludge member and protestant.
Do you auld plastic brit nat orange proddies fae glesga no realise the world has move oan fae the days of jock wallace no allowing kafflicks to play fae rangers?
GWC proving once again what British Nationalists are all about
ReplyDeleteValue for hard working peoples taxes and trimming unnecessary politicians. You Nat sis are now on the gravy train. Once out the EU you will find it hard getting on the train again.
Delete@GWC
DeleteTrimming unecessary politicians?
You british have the heid of state , all her family and distant relatives sucking at the teat of the taxpayers purse , the second largest legislature in the entire world stuffed full of has been politicians toadies and church of englandshire bishops sucking at the taxpayers purse , and england , a country that could fit inside France five times over , has more politicians in its lower house than the yank house of representatives.
Have a word wae yersell and yer pals ya roaster.
Nigel Farage and his UKIP/Brexit parties never had to run anything. They never had to gain the trust of the electorate to make decisions on behalf of the whole populace. They never had to deliver anything. They never had to run a railway, write a white paper or negotiate on behalf of a nation. They could do the tub-thumping, name-calling and dog-whistling, with no consequences. They could be 'closet racists and fruitcakes' knowing they never needed to win a majority in a parliament. They never even had to march to show their strength, but were courted by the TV and the media at every turn.
ReplyDeleteSo in all those respects, Alex Salmond had a much tougher job and did a much better job.
Finally, Salmond fought and lost a cause for a fair and inclusive nation worth having, that he was ready to lead. Farage only won by dividing the nation, with many denied the vote, left feeling outcast, turning the nation into a smaller poorer nastier place, that he'd never have to take responsibility for.
The Jock rich have raked it in under Nat si rule. The Scottish Nat sis are like the USA Democrats, just conservatives in sheeps clothing. The fake veil will eventually come down on the Nat si party.
Delete@GWC
Deletegeez peace will ye? You still oan here talking absolute cac on a daily basis?
I think you will find you are describing her majestys british imperial labour party.
Awa an give Knickerless a Wine Alley blow job.
Delete@ GWC
DeleteIs that the best ye can come oot way yan auld roaster?
Whit a rid neck tawking aboot kafflicks mps in sinn fein and trimming back the herd of unecessary politicians in wee englandshire.
This is whit happens when you let auld orange jakies fae maryhill loose on the library computer fur free.A little knowledge is a dangerous hing eh GWC?
Ah still member how a met GWC .
DeleteAs he approached with those pasty white arms hanging out of his Gola vest, his smile told me it was benefit day..our tracksuit would be hanging off the lamp shade tonight ah thought!
It was GWC`s birthday. I thought about preparing his special tea of Findus Crispy Pancakes and Pot Noodle.As I stood in line at the Job Centre thinking of reasons I couldn't work, a sweet smell drifted past my pig like nostrils. It was a mixture of weed, B.O and Lynx Africa. I turned around and there was GWC. Our eyes met and he was soon lifting me onto the wheelie bins behind Iceland in maryhill.
Ach those were the days.
GWC was likely one of those Ibrox loyals shouting Fenian Bastard at Stephen Gerrard, didn't take them long did it, no wonder some of the black players have had enough of Rapeepel
ReplyDeleteThat was a coinsiderance, just passed Ibrox on the bus. Never been in the place. You have posted that drivel before.
Delete@GWC
DeleteYeev never been in the place since they caught you jumping over the wall and throwing hawfers at wee john spencer cause he wis a kafflick.
@ GWC
DeleteWEEEARRRAAAPPEPULL!
GWC missus says hes hung like a church mouse and tawks lit a dunkey!
You've no idea what a boon Silver'Singles' has been to me.
DeleteThe polis went tae GWC`s flat last night and said tae him
Delete"am afraid it looks like eyr wife has been hit by a bus sir!"
GWC replied "ach a know , but she has a great personality and shes good wae the dug!"
Good lord, GWC. Don't you have life at all?
DeleteWhat's the chances GWC's got 1690 inked on the back of his hawn and a picture of her majesty above his fireplace .. the staunch, loyal teddy bear that he is?
ReplyDeleteRa queen n rat!
Hey govan young team!
ReplyDeleteYou leave ma GWC alone ye hear me?
Ma nerves are shattered the day.
Aye nae bother hen. Whats wrang?
ReplyDeleteWell. I went doon the doctors the day tae find out what the spot was between ma tits.
ReplyDeleteImagine ma relief when a came back hame fae the doctors efter being telt it wis ma belly button.
Young James says the Nat sis should be a broad Church run from the bum boy HQ in the Vatican.
ReplyDelete@GWC
ReplyDeleteis that you gin oan about kafflicks yet again man?yer obsessed so ye are.
Hiv a wee bit of sympathy fur yer poor wife and her spot worry the day.
Av just fitted strobe lights in the bedroom.......it makes the wife look like shes movin during sex.
ReplyDeleteYou'd know all about lights I suppose.
DeleteHey you pee wee.!
ReplyDeleteits no ma fault a cannae feel a hing
Jist wondering if McECk ever tried the haun on the FMs belly button.
ReplyDeleteAre you, or have you ever been a believer in scottish independence.
ReplyDeleteThink we see the start of social distancing this week. Crunched a few numbers and ran a few (rough and ready) models and unless the number of daily cases falls off a cliff in the next 48 hours we are at 1000 cases by the end off the week, middle of next week. Even though scientifically a thousand cases may not be a huge milestone, psychologically for people it will be. Probably start with large gatherings of people being stopped.
ReplyDeleteAs for Schools, the spring holidays are coming up at the start of April, so that could well give a window of the upside of having schools shut with minimal downsides
You might take a look at the exponential grown in Italy. In one week it went from about 100 to more than 5000 and more than a thousand were detected yesterday. I fear your prediction may be overly optimistic, but hope I'm wrong.
DeleteOh yea for sure, numbers rapidly soon going up. I'm more talking in the next week, but could easily be 1000 cases a day within a month to 6 weeks and even that would be low ( UK peak cases were circa 50k a week during 2009 pandemic).
DeleteI think the article was a lot fairer than others I've seen. It did not declare him guilty OR compare him to Adolph Eichmann which is better than Scottish news.
ReplyDeleteScottish and Irish Nat sis were fond of Eichmann and the final solution.
DeleteJK is fonder of you than he is of Big Eater.
DeleteSeems to me there's rather more important things happening than the trial of a former politician.
ReplyDeleteBut some people get off on stories of sexual assault, even wishing these to be true for their own twisted perversions, political or financial gains. Ergo, the BBC etc will give us every gory detail, even if it's not news because it will have no material impact on anyone's lives outside of a tiny few closely involved. If the actual FM was on trial, that would be something, but a former politician with no power over anything? That's just voyeurism.
The BBC editorial team must be fuming each time they have to put a coronavirus story up.
Bbc radio 4 right now: ‘unequal England’
DeleteQuite interesting but oh so England centric. It’s a little bit like the three of us Celtic nations have gone. Certainly a more interesting and important story than the AS trial.
Of course, I’ve just gone off and read the days BBC report on the trial and I find myself fairly profoundly depressed.
Deleteceltic nations are a myth invented by anti English fanatics, mainly red heided Catholics who have not got over the Reformation. They are a laugh.
Deletehttps://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/new-genetic-map-of-britain-shows-successive-waves-of-immigration-going-back-10000-years-10117361.html
DeleteNew genetic map of Britain shows successive waves of immigration going back 10,000 years
...It reveals that the white, indigenous English share about 40 per cent of their DNA with the French, about 26 per cent with the Germans, 11 per cent with the Danes and in the region of nine per cent with the Belgians...
It also reveals much older movements and separations of people, such as the ancient ancestry of the Celtic people of North Wales who are probably descended from some of the oldest inhabitants of Britain, and the clear genetic division between the people of Cornwall and Devon that still persists along the county boundary of the River Tamar.
Who told them they were celts, saxons etc? They were all just products of sperm ejaculation, surely? You Scots Nat sis seem like you are of importance since the extinction of the dinasaurs.
DeleteMxm's sperm presumably.
DeleteScots must be special, what race could invent a song called a wee dochin doris except the Jocks.
Delete@GWC
DeleteYou "british" hate the idea of the "celts" dont you as it blows a severe hole in your brit nat fantasy .
The "celts" have been getting mentioned for over two thousand years since the mediteranean people first came into contact with them at the beginning of recorded history.
The romans and greeks both mention them .
Edward lhuyd , the welsh linguist , was the first guy back in the late 17th century to notice the similarity of the native irish scottish and welsh languages to the ancient celts .The term is linguistic and cultural , just as the english are classed as a germanic people.
Tell me though GWC , if the british are a people , how come they dont speak british? I mean the germans speak german , the french speak french and so on ?
The people who live in scotland have been speaking celtic languages for the last 2500 of the last 3000 years. Our whole country is literally littered with celtic placenames.
You are just a sad wee auld man who goes out of his way to put down his own people language and country so you can fantasise about being an englishman in denial.
I bet even most decent english people are disugested by you and your foaming at the mouth pish you come out with on a daily basis.
You are a thick racist. Sperm is not Saxon or Celt. It is just fate where you are born. When the Soviets finished with the Germans tens of thousands of slant eyed Jerries were born.
Delete@GWC
DeleteWhat are you acutally talking about now ? Who has said the term " celt" is anything to do with sperm ya complete heidcase?
"celt" is a linguistic /cultural term , not a racial term.
The "celts " were various differing groups of people spread across europe from these islands in the west to modern day turkey in the east , from central southern germany switzerland in the north to northern spain , italy ,bulgaria in the south . What united these people was their language and culture.
It is just fate were you are born , and i hit the jackpot and was born in a fantastic country called scotland.
Now close your bum hole and stop talking rubbish.
No matter where we are born , the sad fact of life is all of us have to share this earth with planks of wood like you no matter what country we come from.
My GWC isnae clued up about all that history stuff , so leave him alone.
DeleteHe hinks yer talking aboot neil lennons sperm when ye mention celt sperm. Its a touchy subject in oor flat in maryhill , GWC was faithered on the stairheid many years ago.He never knew his faither.
The celts are an imaginary people made up by the imagination of Irish/Welsh/Scots who want to return to the imaginary good old days before the superior English arrived.
DeleteYou british would know all about imaginary peoples and imaginary countries so i hear.
Deletethe When tinvited Pato Redutasgsre lace in Bratislava
ReplyDeleteFront liading
I agree.
DeleteDitto. Thought provoking.
DeleteA great many Scots are as close to English people in DNA as Americans are to the indigenous American Indian
ReplyDeleteJust because people are the same colour doesn't make them the same,
Sobering chart:
ReplyDeletehttps://twitter.com/faisalislam/status/1237142268378853376
Pretty much all the major European countries & UK on the same curve as Italy is now, 10-14 days time till we reach same level.
Must admit for the first time starting feeling genuinely worried. As has been pointed out, many of these countries are our major suppliers of food and goods; if production and distribution of these goods gets disrupted due to the virus then so does the goods on our shelves.
You need a sobering chart because you sound like you've been on the piss for a fortnight.
DeleteAnd it looks like the case fatality rate in the west might be considerably higher than China's or South Korea, due to the older population.
Delete"Taken aback again by the sheer number of coronavirus deaths in Italy - 5% of reported infections and with many people not infected long enough yet to be in danger of dying."
https://twitter.com/davidsteven/status/1237078411211874304
5% fatality is on a par with Wuhan at its worst. And 19% of Italian cases are critical, a huge jump from China.
Percentage of population over 65:
China: 9%
Italy: 23%
Madrid where I am just now had its confirmed cases more than double in a day to 500 and they've just closed all the schools and unis. Lockdown may be coming soon. 17% of the population is over 65. In the UK it's 16.5%. And the Italian fatality rate could rise considerably higher when the country's hospitals get overwhelmed.
So yes, you and I and everyone else should be genuinely worried. As things stand, it looks like the situation in Europe may become worse than in China.
Most people in Britain are going to get a dose of this thing, it's just a matter of severity
DeleteFor those thinking it's just another flu you could not be more wrong, there are anti virals for flu, there's nothing for this yet, and not likely to be for maybe a year
This is very dangerous for the elderly and those with heart lung problems, keep the kids away from their grannies and vice versa
Italy has one of the most elderly populations in Europe; 23% compared to the UK which is 18% (2016).
DeleteBizarrely, we should maybe hope it's already far more widespread than realised, and most people are generally showing only mild to zero symptoms. Unaware that they have it, and not thinking that possible (but I've not been to Milan!), they are not being tested.
This would both help explain how it is spreading quickly, and mean a lower death rate; the current rate excluding everyone who doesn't realise / hasn't been tested. This is probably happening to some extent, but it's very difficult to gauge fully.
But aye, most if not all of us will get it. If not in live form, we'll get it via a (dead) vaccine so when we do meet it for real, the body's ready. It's a delaying action now.
And folk should remember it's not an alternative to the (dangerous for many) flu, but in addition to it.
The treasury will save a fortune in pension payouts when us oldies snuff it. This money could be invested in our future University Graduates who will complain about having to pay fees and say those oldies deserved an early death.
ReplyDeleteYou know all about snuff. Or so I hear.
DeleteThe problem is that the WHO seem to think that they can prevent people from ever getting sick. Notice how the same level of hysteria was applied to blackmail people into using MMR as is now being experienced about the dread killer mild sniffle of 2020.
ReplyDeleteThousands of people have died in the past year from actual influenza, but nobody tried to shut down the whole of society.
It is not possible to stop people from spreading ordinary 'Flu so why on Earth do you think it is remotely possible to stop spreading this variant? It is not possible. It is a colossal waste of money and enormously destructive to society as a whole.
As some people are fond of saying, "for the many, not the few".
Having as many healthy people contract a mild case of the disease as quickly as possible will have the same effect as a mass vaccination programme. Makes perfect sense.
I live just outside a small town of 1500 people. Assuming a death rate of 2%, if everyone got it, 30 people in the town would die, possibly within just a few weeks.
DeleteAt 5%, it would be 75 folk dead. Globally, the death rate for Covid is over 3% so far, at least of recorded cases.
Seasonal flu is about 0.1% death rate, so that's 2 people in a year in my town.
https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/burden/index.html
Anon: It might help if you actually read what the WHO have said. This is not the flu. It's an entirely different proposition. That's good and bad news, because it has a higher fatality rate, but it also transmits in a different way that makes it more controllable if the will is there. I particularly recommend that you read what Bruce Aylward has said, because he started this process thinking it was essentially impossible to contain something like this without a vaccine, but the facts on the ground in China have entirely changed his view. The key to it is meticulous and fast contact tracing, high levels of public awareness, and prohibiting of public gatherings where appropriate. Italian-style lockdowns may sometimes be necessary, but only where the situation has got totally out of control.
DeleteUnfortunately the UK government's advisers appear to part company with the WHO on much of this, and seem to actively want a very large, but 'managed', epidemic. That does not strike me as a great plan when there's an alternative available, and when the international body is urging that it should be adopted.
The four UK Parliaments/Assemblies seem to be in agreement with the policy. Of course if it all goes tits up then we can blame the English.
DeleteIt's barely worth the bother of giving a serious reply, but for what it's worth there is a UK-wide approach based on agreement between the four nations, and it's probably fair to assume that England's voice is bound to be heard the loudest in any such arrangement. I have no idea if there are any private reservations among the devolved administrations and their advisers, and neither do you.
DeleteIt's just lucky we sourcing most of our grocery products locally from the EEA rather from the other side of the world.
DeleteEven before the benefits of a lower carbon footprint are taken into account, recent events highlight starkly the dangers of buying from far away. Lead times are invariably much longer.
Guess what. At work, absolutely nobody has mentioned the Alex Salmond trial; not even the one person I would have been 100% sure would bring it up under normal circumstances (unionist brexit voter who I have pretty much given up on given the utterly absurd, contradictory positions he constantly adopts).
ReplyDeleteIt's just not news at all.
Actually I heard three men discussing it in the Virgin Money Bank Queen St today when in for a cup of coffee. They were being jovial about it.
DeleteWell, there are some perverts who get off on stories of sexual assault. The rest of us are focused on things that affect our lives.
DeleteIf it was a Labour or Tory accused you would sing another tune. You cannot avoid discussion when our wonderful media publish their articles.
DeleteNo, I'm just not a pervert.
DeleteThere are a number of legitimate reasons for following the trial in detail, but only a very limited number of people will have those (e.g. it's their job, they have a direct link to the accused or complainants...). For the rest of us, it's simple voyeurism if we read/discuss it in depth. If you want to all the gory details, it's because stories of sexual assault arouse you. Simple as that.
Certainly, it's utterly impossible for someone to judge guilt or innocence unless they see everything that the jury see, down to the look on people's faces etc. So anyone who e.g. says 'I'm trying to make my own mind up' by reading newspaper experts is a complete fool and should never be given a position of responsibility due to their complete lack of critical analytical skills / good judgement.
That is pure nonsense as people read things and make up their minds there and then. What the guy said in the bank was, how could that women push that fat bastard of her.
DeleteYes, such people are not given important roles in business, academia, engineering etc for good reason.
DeleteThey can get elected though.
I must admit though, after reading one headline, I did struggle with the concept of Salmond being able to 'pounce'.
DeleteThose people were rather well dressed and could have been as you described. They were not midgie men.
DeleteMichelle Mone dresses well.
DeleteShe is getting tae the wrinkly stage in life but £300 quid a day in the Lords should help with the plastic surgery.
DeleteYou know all about stages. So they tell me.
DeleteDo you remember that one who asked "Is there Munchers staying there?". Nosey cow.
Delete£335 per day plus expenses, they gave themselves a raise
DeleteFormer FM of Scotland Labour's Jack McConnell racks up over £100.000 per year in expenses from the HOL, it's the travelling, he says
When you're atanding in the rain at a bus stop eating a fish supper that cost you £7.00 just remember Jack and his chums pay the same for a three course silver service meal plus wine in nice salubrious surroundings all hand delivered by a waiter and cooked on the premises by chefs
We also have at least twice as many MSPs as required on the Holyrood gravy train. The Nat sis also want to retain MEPs on the gravy train. Nat sis are no different from the rest when it comes to spending taxpayers money. I would abolish the Lords.
DeleteI would abolish her majestys british nationalist labour party.
DeleteI would demolish Govan but retain the Ludge.
Delete@GWC You're absolutely right there are far too many Unionist MSPs in Holyrood who have never ever won an election,in a FPTP system there'd only be 4 Tories 3 Labour and two Liberal Democrats and maybe 1 Green, all the rest would be SNP because they win all the elections, the rest are list fodder
Delete@GWC
DeleteGovan existed long before the union , and it will outlast you , the ludge and the union.
When that day comes , im gonnae walk about bottling the salty tears of you bitter wee unionists.
Govan was in existence until the Nat si wankers arrived conning the punters. Whits it like up the bum paidrick?
Delete@GWC
DeleteGovan and our wider glesga struggled to exist in eighty years the labour brit nats were in control of our city.They took us from one of the greatest cities on earth down to the worst city in the western world.
Even the northern english have wisened up to the champagne socialists.
Whats it like taking it doon the throat billy boy?Good to see the eu annexing ulster ya roaster.
Most of the good Scottish white folk have left Govan for Ibrox. Govan is now full of refugees and half cast child benefit claimants. Govan is outdoing Govanhill,both controlled by which political party!
DeleteDo all the over eighties who voted for Johnson now realise that Johnson views them as expendable. Does Johnson think it is a good idea to be happy to wipe out a chunk of his dependable voter base.
ReplyDeleteThe UK is bonkers.
The trial of someone who isn't a politician and has no power over people's lives is considered more important news than then government's latest plans for coronavirus according to BBC Scotland politics. And all because the story involves sex, allowing some pervert unionists to get their kicks.
DeleteBritish nationalism is truly revolting.
Mr Salmond did lose his seat however he is involved in politics via the Russian propaganda TV Chanel RT. I believe he was a big fan of the former Soviet Union and against NATO.
DeleteIt seems the only people Salmond has power over is unionists like yourself.
DeleteNo one has power over me. Silly comment for you to make.
DeleteWhy do take an interest in him then?
DeleteHe seems to have some huge power over the BBC; they are putting stories about a very minor (in terms of effects on life in Scotland) court case involving him ahead of coronavirus.
The alec salmond trial is the pinnacle of GWC`s career.He cant sleep at night thinking of him.
DeleteOne finds the concept of Michelin starred restaurants somewhat déclassé and too blatantly aspirational. Yet, one's heart beats more rapidly; one's remembrances turn to sumptuous repasts enjoyed in the finest homes of Europe, oftimes in lands whose names have been erased from out common consciousness. Thus was it that with anticipation if also a soupçon of bittersweet wistfulness did one accept the invitation to dine with la Duchesse d'Évange au Moulin in the tavern near her home by the Ariège. One expects to feast on a refined supper of Catalan cuisine following a private performance of die Schlafende Hexe des Gebirges in the duchess's ravishing château.
ReplyDeletePonce.
DeletePizza Yoon.
DeleteSardigna Libera!
My name means Kink of Kinks, Emperor of Iceland, Ra Boyz Protect I, Defender of the Indefensible, Patron Saint O Flute Bauns.
ReplyDeleteBeat that.
Dear James,
ReplyDeleteI kind of know you aver towards freedom of expression but Laxmi Rai takes this into a new and ludicrous area. You really ought to get a grip!
I am America!
ReplyDeleteI see the BBC now believes that a story about a court case where a woman is claiming a man touched her bum inappropriately is far more important to Scotland than the fact 30% of NHS staff might be off sick due to coronavirus, just when we need them.
ReplyDeleteThe UK / BBC is truly perverted. It's sickening.
They are separate issues and the law must continue. You are clearly on an apologist mission for your failed Russian hero! Eck will probably get the posthumous order of Putin.
DeleteYou will need to explain to me in what way the Alex Salmond trial is in the public interest when he's not FM, hasn't been for years, and isn't even an elected politician any more. Jeez, he isn't even in the SNP, never mind holding a position of any power.
DeleteOnly in some perverted British mind that's aroused by sexual assault does such a trial rank as more important than the current coronaovirus situation. At no point ever should headlines about a minor trial of no importance to Scottish life rank higher than a fucking pandemic with the potential to kill 10's of 1000's.
The BBC is just a revolting, sick institution which typifies the UK.
Spot on comment about the BBC Mr Skier. GWC is pretty sick and perverted as well.
DeleteOf course most of the media's coverage is just salacious, but I think there's a legitimate public interest in discovering whether this alleged behaviour was covered up by people currently in power. That's also Unionists' primary (probably sole) hope of ousting the SNP next year, so it is of some relevance.
DeleteHello , zero..........send key setting.......over?
ReplyDeleteYou do not say over anymore.
DeleteYou dont wear a redcoat anymore either.
DeleteScotsmen wearing kilts and redcoats built our Empire. Fast forward with the bayonet they were.
DeleteThey were British soldiers. British built the empire. The Scots army ceased to be in 1707.
DeleteThis is just doing an andy murray with your history.
Scottish Regiments are recognised as Scottish within the British Army. Whits wrang pal are ye ashamed that your standard of living was built from the Jock bayonet.
DeleteI see Trump has prioritised US citizens as virus carriers to the USA. They are allowed to visit Europe and bring it into the US, but Europeans are not, even though they're not travelling anyway now.
ReplyDeleteUK citizens are also allowed to bring it in to the USA, as are we Irish.
If you are from e.g. Denmark though, which has less cases than the UK, you can't go to US.
Lucky the USA has universal healthcare as brought in by Obama.
DeleteOh no, wait, Trump canceled that.
To be fair skier trump disnae interest me.Trump will do what is politically expedient for his re election rather than what is in the interst of his nation. Neither is he any friend of ours.
DeleteHe is nothing more than a distraction providing zany comedy relief .
I never forced myself on women and I love Scatland. Do not compare me to that piece of blubber.
DeleteDon't be in contempt of our courts Donald.
DeleteFollowing a meeting with Nadine Dorries Boris Johnson has tested positive for Corona Virus and is to self Isolate in a big fridge
ReplyDeleteIf US citizens are exempt from the US travel ban, surely Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson are free to come home?
ReplyDeleteCos like Americans don't get it right?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-51847198
Donald just grabs them by the 🙀
ReplyDeleteWhy is Boris listening to the experts on coronavirus, but not when it comes to brexit?
ReplyDeleteWhy is JK describing S Korea as a democracy? It is not.
ReplyDeleteHow many people will die because of the Global Depression caused by a harmless sniffle?
In Scotland there were 5,000 additional deaths in the winter of 2017-18 due to ordinary'flu. Not one single death due to covid-19 and you want to shut down an entire country. Does not compute.
PS. The WHO claim that men can turn into women. Why should I trust any single thing they tell me when they lie to my face about basic biology?
5000 deaths per 5.4m is a death rate of 0.09%.
DeleteCovid has a death rate 22x higher at say 2%, assuming good medical treatment where required (much higher with none).
So you are estimating 110,000 people will die in the coming months. About 10 x that will be critically ill but pull though with NHS treatment, with that near collapse under the huge demand.
This is with a shutdown as per china.
Currently 60 confirmed cases but zero deaths. If one of the 60 dies, our death rate will be 1.7%, or 18x that of seasonal flu.
DeleteBringing Scotland into line with the UK rate which is 1.7%.
DeleteFoot Foot Foot
DeleteFoot Bash Foot
Bash Foot Foot
Bash Bash Foot
You get the picture. Pass it on
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Bash Foot Bash